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Cooling tower basics calculation formulas | Cooling Tower

Efficiency

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In this article explained about basic concepts of cooling tower, types of

cooling towers, formula for cooling tower efficiency. Also brief about
Cooling tower mass balance  of make-up water requirement in system,
Drift Losses or Windage, Evaporation losses & Blowdown or Draw off.

Types of cooling tower | Cooling Tower Basic

Calculations
Contents [hide]
 1 Types of cooling tower | Cooling Tower Basic Calculations
1.1 Types of Cooling Towers
1.1.1 Mechanical draft water-cooling tower:
1.1.1.1 Forced draught cooling tower
1.1.1.2 Induced draught cooling tower
1.1.2 Natural draft water-cooling tower
1.2 Design Considerations of cooling tower
1.3 Operation Considerations of cooling tower (Cooling tower mass balance)
1.3.1 Drift Losses (D) or Windage
1.3.2 Evaporation Losses (E )
1.3.3 Blowdown or Draw off
1.3.4 Cycle of Concentration (COC)
1.4 Cooling Tower Ef ciency Calculations
1.4.1 Cooling Tower Approach
1.4.2 Cooling Tower Range

Cooling towers are a very important part of many process plants and
power plants.  The make-up water source is used to refill water lost to
evaporation.  Hot water from heat exchangers/condenser is sent to the
cooling tower. After reducing the temperature of water in cooling tower
and is sent back to the condenser /exchangers or to other units for further
process.
(http://www.sugarprocesstech.com/cooling-tower-basics/)Terminology in
Cooling Tower

Drift: From a cooling tower water lost due to liquid droplets entrained in
the exhaust air. It is independent of water lost by evaporation.

Heat exchange/ Condenser – It is a device for transferring heat from one

substance to another.

Concentration : The process of increasing solids per unit volume of

solution also the amount of material dissolved in a unit volume of
solution.

Usually concentration of liquid in cooling tower occurs due to evaporation

that cools the water. It is normally expressed directly as (parts per million)
ppm or indirectly as mhos conductivity.

Air Blows: By the opening in cooling tower through which air enters a
tower.

Blowdown: Water discharged from the system of cooling tower to control

concentration of salts or other impurities in the circulating water

Evaporation loss: In the process of  cooling tower system, water

evaporated from the circulating water into the atmosphere. 

Makeup : Water added to the circulating water in cooling tower system to

replace water lost by evaporation, blowdown, drift and leakage

Drift eliminators: An assembly constructed of plastic, cement board,

wood, or other material that minimize the entrained water moisture from
the discharged air. 

Cooling water : Water circulated through a cooling system to remove heat

from certain areas. 

Exhaust air : The mixture of air and its associated vapor leaving the
cooling tower system

Louvers : Members installed horizontally in a cooling tower wall to provide

openings through which the air enters into the system while also
containing the falling water within the tower. Usually Louvers are installed
at an angle to the direction of air flow to the cooling tower. 
Fundamental Concept of Cooling Tower :   Heat is transferred from water
drops to the surrounding atmospheric air by the transfer of latent heat and
sensible heat.

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Types of Cooling Towers

Cooling towers mainly classified into two sub-divisions

1. Mechanical draft cooling tower

2. Natural draft cooling tower

Mechanical draft water-cooling tower:

Mechanical draft cooling towers are more commonly used for cooling of
water.  These mechanical draft cooling towers utilize large fans to force
air through circulated water.   The water falls downward over surface of
fills, which help increase the contact time between the air and water.  This
helps maximize heat transfer between the air and water.

Mechanical draft water-cooling tower consists mainly two types

1. Forced draft – In this cooling tower fans located at the air inlet
2. Induced draft – In this cooling tower fans located at the air exhaust.

Forced draught cooling tower

These take the form of a large rectangular concrete structure. The water is
pumped to the top and broken up into sprays. It falls as rain on to
successive stages of boards in the form of louvres of wood, polystyrene or
metal, with notches and ribs to break up the flow. The water flows from
one stage to the next and finally arrives at the pond which forms the base
of the structure, from which it is taken by the cold water pump.

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In a forced draught cooling tower, as shown in figure. The circulation of air

in forced draft cooling tower is produced by means of fans placed at the
base of the tower

Induced draught cooling tower

In an induced draught cooling tower, as shown in below figure. The
circulation of air is provided by means of fans placed at the top of the
tower.

They are generally induced draft cooling tower classified as counter

current or cross flow tower, descriptive of the direction of air flows
relative to that of the water.

The counter current tower is expected to be more efficient, but the cross
flow tower can be operated with lower power requirement or higher vapour
velocities.

Induced Draft Cooling Tower – Counter Current Flow type

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Induced Draft Cooling Tower – Cross Flow type

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Natural draft water-cooling tower
The cooling tower, generally packed with brushwood or wooden laths. This
is a very large tower in which the hot water encounters a natural draught
which promotes cooling of the water by convection and evaporation.

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In a natural draught cooling tower, as shown in figure the circulation of air

is produced by the pressure difference of air inside and outside the
cooling tower
Design Considerations of cooling tower
The efficiency of this device depends essentially on climatic conditions, in
particular the wet-bulb temperature and the relative humidity of the
ambient air.

The required cooling tower design and size will be a function of following
values

a) Cooling range

b) Web bulb temperature

c) Approach to wet bulb temperature

d) Mass flowrate of water (Circulation rate)

e) Air velocity through tower or individual tower cell

f) Tower height

The performance of cooling towers is estimated by approach and range.

During the performance assessment, portable monitoring instruments are
used to measure the following parameters:

a) Dry bulb temperature of air

b) Wet bulb temperature (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wet-

bulb_temperature) of air

c) Cooling tower inlet water temperature

d) Cooling tower outlet water temperature

e) Electrical readings of pump and fan motors

f) Exhaust air temperature

g) Water flow rate

h) Air flow rate

Operation Considerations of cooling tower (Cooling tower mass

balance)
Cooling tower mass balance gives an indication about make-up water
requirement in system. Cooling Tower Makeup is required due to water
losses resulting from Drift, Evaporation & Blowdown.
Water make-up (M ) = Total water losses = Drift Losses ( D) + Evaporation
Losses (E ) + Blow down Losses (B

M=D+E+B

M = Make up water Requirement in m 3 /hr

D = Drift Loss in m 3 /hr

E = Evaporation Loss  in m 3 /hr

B = Blow Down in m 3 /hr

Drift Losses (D) or Windage

Drift losses may be assumed to be:

D = 0.3 to 1.0 percent of Circulating water (C ) for a natural draft cooling

tower
D = 0.1 to 0.3 percent of Circulating water (C ) for an induced draft cooling
tower
D = about 0.01 percent or less of Circulating water (C ) if the cooling
tower has windage drift eliminators

Evaporation Losses (E )
It is calculated on the basis of heat balance around the cooling tower

where:

C = Circulating water in m 3 /hr

 = Latent heat of vaporization of water = 540 kcal/kg (or) 2260 kJ / kg or

Ti – To  = water temperature difference from tower top to tower bottom in

°C ( cooling tower inlet hot water and outlet cold water temperature
difference)
Cp = specific heat of water = 1  kcal/kg / °C (or) 4.184 kJ / kg / °C

Alternatively to find the evaporation loss by the following formula

(Reference: Perry’s Chemical Engineers Hand Book)
Evaporation loss in m 3 /hr  =  0.00085 x 1.8 x circulation rate in m 3 /hr  x
(Ti-To) in 0 C

( Hint: Theoretically the evaporation quantity for every 1,000,000 kCal heat
rejected to evaporate 1.8 m 3 of water)

Blowdown or Draw o
The process of cooling water circulates the cooling tower part of water
evaporates thereby increasing solids per unit volume of solution also the
amount of material dissolved in a unit volume of solution.

To control the Cycle of Concentration blow down or Draw off is given.

Blowdown can be calculated from the formula

B = E/ (COC-1)

B = Blow Down (m 3 /hr)

E = Evaporation Loss (m 3 /hr)

COC = Cycle of Concentration.

Cycle of Concentration (COC)

The cycle of concentration is a dimensionless number. It is a ratio
between parameter in Cooling Water to the parameter in Makeup water. It
can be calculated from any the following formulae.

Cycles of concentration (COC) = Silica in Cooling Water / Silica in Makeup

Water

Cycles of concentration (COC)  = Ca Hardness in Cooling Water/ Ca

Hardness in Makeup water

Cycles of concentration (COC)  = Conductivity of Cooling Water /

Conductivity of Makeup water

Cycles of concentration (COC) = Concentration of chlorides in circulating

water /Concentration of chlorides in make-up water
The cycle of concentration (COC) normally varies from 3.0 to 7.0
depending on the Process Design and Manufactures Guidelines. In some
large power plants, concentration cycles of the cooling tower may be
much higher.

Cooling Tower Efficiency Calculations

The efficiency of this cooling tower system depends on climatic
conditions, in particular the wet-bulb temperature and the relative
humidity of the ambient air.

The required cooling tower design and size will be a function of following
values

a) Cooling range

b) Web bulb temperature

c) Approach to wet bulb temperature

d) Mass flowrate of water (Circulation rate)

e) Air velocity through tower or individual tower cell

g) Tower height

In this calculation Cooling Tower Approach & Cooling Tower Range are

important factors

Cooling Tower Approach

Approach: The difference between the Cooling Tower Outlet water (Cold
Water Temperature) and ambient Wet Bulb Temperature is called as
Approach of Cooling Tower.

Approach of cooling tower = Cooling tower oulet water – Wet bulb

temperature

Cooling Tower Range

Range: The difference between the cooling tower inlet temperature (Hot
Water Temperature) and cooling tower outlet temperature (Cold water
temperature) is called Range of Cooling Tower.Range of cooling tower =
Cooling tower inlet temperature – Cooling tower outlet temperature
Cooling Tower Efficiency Formula:

Cooling Tower Efficiency

Or Simply

Cooling Tower Efficiency

In practice, the cooling tower efficiency will be in between 65 to 70%. In

summer season the ambient air wet bulb temperature raises when
compared to winter season so cooling tower efficiency limiting in summer
season.

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